This new study seems to validate the role of cell phone radiation as a contributing factor in declining bee populations.

Andrew Goldsworthy, a biologist from the UK’s Imperial College, London, has studied the biological effects of electromagnetic fields. He thinks it’s possible bees could be affected by cell phone radiation.

The reason, Goldsworthy says, could hinge on a pigment in bees called cryptochrome.

“Animals, including insects, use cryptochrome for navigation,” Goldsworthy told CNN.

“They use it to sense the direction of the earth’s magnetic field and their ability to do this is compromised by radiation from [cell] phones and their base stations. So basically bees do not find their way back to the hive.”

More from the Gulf

Comments anyone?

Washington, Jun 21 -
Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), a long-time advocate of family farmers and organic foods, today made the following statement after the Supreme Court voted 7-1 to allow the experimental planting of genetically modified alfalfa seed before an environmental review is completed:

“Today the Supreme Court ruled that when it comes to genetically modified organisms, we as consumers, have to wait until the damage is done and obvious, before we can act to protect health and the environment, even if that damage could be irreversible.

“Haven’t we learned from the catastrophe in the Gulf of the dangers of technological arrogance, of proceeding ahead with technologies without worrying about the consequences? Why do we continue to throw precaution to the wind?

“Tomorrow I will introduce three bills this week that will provide a comprehensive regulatory framework for all Genetically Engineered (GE) plants, animals, bacteria, and other organisms.

Call your reps.

The mess we have today in the Gulf of Mexico is not the first time BP has committed crimes against the environment and against people. This is a proverbial drop in the bucket for BP. This outfit has been cheating humanity since its inception.

How not to contain an oil spill starring BP. Then let your stomach churn reading this Kos post about the potential for future catastrophes.

Legalize it

In a move that surprises no one, the Supreme Court has overturned a ban on genetically engineered alfalfa. At this time, we are waiting for a press release from The Center for Food Safety.

‘’This Supreme Court ruling is important for every American farmer, not just alfalfa growers,'’ said David F. Snively, Monsanto’s senior vice president and general counsel. ‘’All growers can rely on the expertise of USDA, and trust that future challenges to biotech approvals must now be based on scientific facts, not speculation.'’

Opponents of the genetically-engineered seeds also claimed victory.

‘’The ban on the crop will remain in place until a full and adequate EIS (environmental impact statement) is prepared by USDA and they officially deregulate the crop. This is a year or more away according to the agency, and even then, a deregulation move may be subject to further litigation if the agency’s analysis is not adequate,'’ said Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the Center for Food Safety. ‘’In sum, it’s a significant victory in our ongoing fight to protect farmer and consumer choice, the environment and the organic industry.'’

It sounds like CFS landed a couple of blows. Updates as events warrant.

Link to a conversation about the worst case scenario regarding BP’s goddamn blowhole.

NEW ORLEANS — Scientists provided a new estimate for the amount of oil gushing from the ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico on Tuesday that indicates it could be leaking up to 2.52 million gallons of crude a day.

A government panel of scientists said that the ruptured well is leaking between 1.47 million and 2.52 million gallons of oil daily. The figures move the government’s worst-case estimates more in line with what an independent team had previously thought was the maximum size of the spill.

Uh…

450 pages of sheer blasphemy, the only thing left to do is find a brave publisher.

Japan bribed other nations with prostitutes to get lax whaling rules.

DMT in the news.

Which is to say,-Has Total Wellhead Failure Happened?

Then take the edge off with these amusing videos.

Astonishing feat of endurance captured on film.

Oh man this is a good one.

Obama has also called in some of the many scientists on the federal payroll, led by Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Nobel Prize-winning physicist. Chu at one point pushed the unusual idea of using gamma rays to peer into the blowout preventer to determine if its valves were closed, a technique he experimented with in graduate school while studying radioactive decay.  

The suggestion at first elicited snickering and “Incredible Hulk” jokes. Then they tried it, and it worked. “They weren’t hot on his ideas,” a senior White House official said of BP’s initial reaction to Chu’s suggestions. “Now they are.”

That’s going to be a great scene in the movie.

(h/t Atrios)

Yes I know Dr. Mercola runs the hottest alternative health site on the web. But it’s become obvious from some of the links he posts that he’s a tea bagger deficit-hawk type, with a comments section infested with Ron Paul devotees and other right wing libertarian degenerates. You know, the Ron Paul who (with his son) goes around trashing the Civil Rights Act. Yuck. I know it’s ad hominem to judge someone as a whole based on some of their thinking, so I won’t go there. But I am seriously starting to wonder if being a right wing tea bagging libertarian will someday become a recognized category of mental illness. So, goodbye Dr. Mercola. I want to start reading other health sites now. It’s not me: it’s you.

From a commercial site of, by, and for indoor air quality tweakers:

Indoor Air Quality and Terrorism, featuring a 3-part “Indoor Air Quality Fallout From WTC Collapse” (a few years old but illustrates the enormity of the problem).

No Pants No Peace, originally uploaded by jessicahayssen.

My 12-year old has fantasized about being a protester, and reasoned that if she’s going to protest something, it should be something she feels strongly about, which these days is that too many joggers wear their shorts too tight. Prompted by a political sign in the yard supporting a nurses’ union, she turned a flattened “priority mail” box into her protest sign, prominently featuring the text “NO PANTS NO PEACE” and a little picture of some pants. The opposite side reads “TO (sic) MANY TIGHT SHORTS” and has a picture of a shorts-clad stick-man jogger inside the classic crossed-out circle. She affixed the sign to a stick and planted it in the yard last weekend. So look out world - she wants to be a “whale warrior” when she grows up.

Analysis here. We’ve been saying this since at least 1998, so our patience with reductionism/mechanism is wearing thin.

Article here. Pull quote here:

The automobile, once a rite of passage for American youth, is becoming less relevant to a growing number of people under 30.